The present Applicant is the inventor of technology relating to the production of steel framework for houses, in particular, steel wall frames, roof trusses, and the like. In particular, the technology involves inputting data relating to the design of a building structure, such as a home, into a computer program and translating that data into a series of roll forming and cutting operations to thereby produce each of the structural elements which make up the wall or roof truss layout. The data takes into account, amongst other factors, wall height and length, window and door locations, and the position of service locations such as lights and power points which require apertures being formed in the structural elements at different locations depending on the design.
Each of the roll forming machines includes a labelling means for labelling each structural element with computer coded profiles according to their required position in a frame. This facilitates manual assembly of the wall frames and roof trusses after the roll-forming and cutting operations. Once each frame is assembled, they are flat packed and transported to a building site where they are erected into wall, truss and joist panels with minimal skill being required. For example, it takes three workers only a few days to erect a typical 180 m2 home.
The use of polystyrene foam in association with frames for the purpose of insulation is not new, nor is the use of polystyrene as a wall cladding system. For example, some systems utilise polystyrene insulation panels secured to exterior wall surfaces of a building structure using mechanical fixing means, the foam providing a surface for the application of a coating material such as render. There are however a number of problems associated with existing systems such as these, including:                they are expensive and labour intensive in that the foam is typically manufactured in panels and, as with the frames, require onsite assembly;        as mentioned above, the panels are secured to exterior wall surfaces using mechanical fixings which are not only expensive and labour intensive to install, but the end result is an uneven foam surface with exposed metal which does not facilitate the application of an external coating material; and        the foam is typically of a low density, and is either mounted to a supporting structure, is panelised to fit around stud elements, or includes cutouts for receiving stud elements, thereby not contributing to the frame's structural rigidity and integrity.        
Furthermore, there are no frame manufacturing systems known to the Applicant for producing finished foam-filled frames quickly and inexpensively off site and which require only minimal skill to erect once transported onsite. Nor are there frame systems known to the Applicant whereby finished foam-filled frames are produced in accordance with input design data relating to a building structure.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned problems or provide the public with useful alternatives.